We would to first start by reporting that we are officially 1/3 of the way into our trip. We both knew the time would just fly by but it is hard to believe that we have been gone for two months. It is also hard for us to believe that our time in Laos flew by so quickly since NOTHING in Laos goes quickly. This is a place to come and slow down, relax and take it all in without any sort of urgency. Given that we were counting the days until we finished our two weeks in India, it came as a great surprise that our two weeks in Laos had already passed us by. Here's how it went...
We began by meeting Victoria's parents and brother as planned in the airport of Vientiane with just enough time for the five of us to board our plane for Luang Namtha in the north of Laos. We didn't really have much of a backup plan so thank goodness this all worked out. With no phones, we were just counting on luck. Victoria's mother, Elizabeth, had visited this town in 2003 and flown in with only a strip of pavement to land on and no airport to speak of. The runway was the only paved thing in the town and most places still lacked electricity. Nearly 8 years later they have a real building as their airport and instead of dropping our bags on the dirt besides the runway as they had in '03 they were delivered to the "baggage claim" which was about 10 feet of a carousel that abruptly ended dropping all unclaimed items in a pile on the ground. We cringed as we watched a box labeled "fragile" drop straight to the ground and get several other bags piled on top of it before being claimed. Oops.
The reason we had come to Luang Namtha was because of the fond memories Elizabeth had of the town and a trek she had done with her brother and niece. We followed in their footsteps and tried to recreate the same experience despite the changes that had occurred in the years between. Parts were successful and others not so much. Our trek through the jungle was beautiful, not too hot and very lush. We followed a river, saw village life, and enjoyed the rolling green hills that surrounded us. Our lunch on the way in was served on banana leaves and eaten with our hands. Thank goodness for stikcy rice which acted as a shovel and helped us get some food in our mouths. We passed through the village Elizabeth had stayed in which had been abandoned and relocated. It's previous proximity to the river made it very susceptible to flooding during the monsoon season so they moved to higher ground nearby. We passed through the village and brought antibiotics to a young girl who had fallen on her knife in the fields and had a huge cut in her leg which had of course become infected. Because they are so far from the town they don't seek medical help until it is too late so it is often the guides on the treks that are the first and only ones who can help. The guides tried to emphasize just how important it was for her to take all the pills and not just stop once she felt a bit better since that is often what happens, but I guess we will never know.
We continued onto the next village where we were to stay the night. As soon as we arrived the villagers appeared to welcome and study us. It must have been laundry day since none of the children had a stitch of clothing on and there were LOTS of children. Our guides and some of the men from the village immediately got to work making a fire to cook on in the hut we were staying in which of course had no chimney for the smoke to get out of. They grabbed the closest rooster which was to become our dinner; fortunately this was before we saw the pigs pooping and the roosters fighting to get the grub. They picked some greens to go along with rooster that were from the garden directly below the toilet we were all using. Right...Although our time in the village was short, we got an uneasy sense about the place. It felt as though the village had perhaps been self sufficient for too long and that inbreeding was a real problem. It has been a joke for a long time that since Vermont is so small (about 600,000 people) that maybe there is some inbreeding, but this was the real deal. The two neighboring villages were not the same tribe and therefore wouldn't inter-marry which leaves them with few options.
Our evening there was certainly memorable in lots of ways and was very eyeopening to what a lot of rural areas of this country and other poor countries must be like. With the money the village gets from tourism they had purchased one generator, but otherwise there was no electricity, no running water, no safe or proper toilet, no way to cook food without smoking your house, no school though they were trying to raise money for a school teacher, and no medical help. Laos is by far the poorest country we have visited on our trip and probably will visit but despite its poverty, there is a charm about the place that keeps you coming back, or at least keeps us coming back.
After our memorable trek, we moved onto a much more touristy town further south called Luang Prabang. It was a very windy 7 hour drive though like many of our drives, we didn't cover much ground. The town is on a peninsula surrounded by two rivers making it a lovely place to stroll and relax. The main attraction here is the amazing number or Wats (temples) scattered throughout the town. The monks living in the Wats walk through the streets every morning at dawn collecting alms from the local people. It is truly an amazing sight to see hundreds of young monks in their bright orange robes walking silently down the streets at dawn collecting sticky rice and other offerings. In a country with such poor education systems the Wats are often a very good way for boys to get a better education. We had all unfortunately been stuck down by our trek (food sanitation...well didn't really exist) and were only able to see this one morning. All five of us were sick with fevers, chills, and horrendous stomach problems which was too bad since Victoria's dad and brother were only in SE Asia for two weeks, it was a shame to loose a few good days. If you are looking for a new weight-loss plan, we can certainly recommend our trekking company to you!
After recovering enough to hop back on the horse, we parted ways with Victoria's dad and brother heading south again with Elizabeth to the island of Don Khone on the Mekong River. In addition to another great place to relax and be by some water, we were hoping to see the rare endangered Irrawaddy dolphins which live in the fresh waters of the river between Laos and Cambodia. After flying into Pakse, the nearest city, we hopped aboard a tuk-tuk, the local open air mode of transport, and were delivered to the "bus station." Bus would not be the word we would use to describe the vehicle we hopped aboard but it certainly was a station. Along with about 20 other locals we rode the four hours to the islands in an open air giant tuk-tuk (basically a dump truk with seats and less siding) along with 50+ bags of fertilizer, 10 bikes, 4 cases of pickles, luggage, blankets and of course us. We would sporadically stop at "rest stops" where women selling meat on a stick, corn, sticky rice, and radishes would swarm our truck to sell their goods and we would be off again having only a few minutes swapping goods. It was pretty amazing.
Our arrival at the river could not have been more perfect since it was getting dark and we did not want to maneuver our bags and selves onto a small rickety boat in the dark. We also got one of the best sunsets we have ever seen yet on our boat ride to the island which was an added perk. Our island was quaint and very slow paced, the norm in Laos for us by now. We biked around both days seeing the island, the Mekong going over some very impressive falls, dolphins (which we did infact see much to Victoria's delight), and the daily life scenes of rice threshing, field tilling, kids biking to school, and general lazing around. Life was pretty good on Don Khone.
Our days of lazing by the Mekong are behind us and we are off to see the ancient wonders of Cambodia at Angkor Wat.
T&V
